A document's life cycle can include many phases including creation, editing, amending, rendering, publication, distribution, and reading. During many of the phases, a document typically exists in the form of a document specifications stored on a server computer or other networked device. In order for anyone to read or otherwise use a document, it must be rendered by a rendering device such as a printer or a computer display.
Rendering devices are often characterized on how they produce certain colors, tones, textures, and shades. For example, a cyan-magenta-yellow (CMY) printer can not produce as deep a black as a black and white printer or a cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) printer. Similarly, computer displays typically work in a red-green-blue (RGB) color space and have their own characteristics. Regardless of the rendering device's characteristics, a document should look the same.
Color characterizations can be used to ensure that documents look the same regardless of the rendering device. A document can have a document color characterization while a rendering device can have a device color characterization. A color transform can alter one color characterization based on another color characterization. As such, a document color characterization can be altered based on a device color characterization. The result is that the document renders faithfully on the device.
It is possible, however, to color transform a document many times. For example, a document can be transformed once for printing and then again for printing on the same device. The second rendering will be off because it is a transformation of the first, correct, one. This issue can be avoided by retaining documents only when they have a specific standardized document color characterization. Regardless, transformed documents are still accidentally retained. Another issue is that every document must be transformed prior to rendering, thereby requiring and consuming computing resources. Systems and methods to address the shortcomings of current technology are needed.